"Don't throw away your confidence." This past summer I attended a conference in which one of the speakers spoke on this very topic. It was life changing. She had miniature garbage cans placed on each table. She emphatically encouraged each of us to write down on pieces of paper provided whatever was hindering us from fulfilling God's call on our lives.
Self doubt. Insecurity. Sinful past. Fear. Unbelief. Etc.
This week in the So Long Insecurity Bible study, we discussed choosing security. Have you ever thought that you could choose to keep your security and throw away whatever was causing you to lose it?
We also talked about the legacy we want to leave to our children and the girls that are coming up behind us. What kind of legacy do you want to leave? Do you want the daughters behind you to be secure and confident in Christ? Sometimes looking beyond ourselves can give us extra motivation to deal with our stuff, and we all have stuff.
Most everyone has insecurity triggers, even the most confident among us. The difference is how we choose to respond to those triggers.
In the past, you may have been faced with a situation that intimidates you or brings out insecurity in you. That situation may have caused you to spiral downward leaving you feeling inferior and insecure. As a result, you feel bad for reacting that way and feel even worse about yourself. It is a downward vicious cycle.
We can choose to react differently even while feeling insecure. The way we respond leads to a new feeling and the new feeling leads to a more secure reaction. The result is a new positive cycle. We spiral up instead of tail spinning down in the dizzying destructive path of insecurity.
We can choose whether or not those habitual triggers of insecurity go off or fizzle out.
Beth Moore pointed out that we do not have to attach insecurity to our emotions. It was a great revelation. Why do we tend to pair insecurity with negative emotions?
We can feel disappointed, rejected, hurt, uncertain, humiliated without also attaching insecurity to it.
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord you God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of you r days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them. Deuteronomy 30:19-20
Choose life. We have the power to choose. We don't have to just take every negative emotion and hold onto it as our own.
Don't feel rejected, reject rejection.
Don't feel inferior, reject and cast down that feeling. Make inferiority feel inferior.
Don't feel incapable, you are able with the Lord.
We need to "talk" to ourselves. We are given a choice. We can hold on to thoughts that lead to death of our self worth and our security, which also keeps us from becoming all God intends. Or we can choose life giving reactions to those negative feelings. We don't have to act on how we feel.
Choosing life means choosing to react Christ-like, turning away from sin (selfishness and self absorption that go along with insecurity are also sins), putting others first before ourselves, serving others, choosing a positive mental attitude and holding onto our confidence instead of throwing it away.
The Lord has a abundant life planned for all of us. For you. We can choose to walk in it or choose to wallow in our insecurity. Let's not throw away all the good God has planned for us, do not throw away your confidence. Let's toss out that old insecurity and choose life. Let's leave a legacy of security and confidence in Christ for the generations behind us to follow.
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